How Timers at Traffic Lights Cause Accidents (blog.priceonomics.com)

Yet another problem that will be eliminated by Autonomous Cars.

I use those timers as an additional piece of information to decide on whether I'm going to stop, slow down, or continue on without worry, and find them very helpful. I think it is Japan that has progress bars on their traffic lights as well.

I'm surprised to find that people use it as a signal to start tailgaiting, sounds quite counter-intuitive.